Special project: Ministerial alliances
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Work in the community, works of faith
Hispanic and Black Christians tend to be selective when working with outside groups, ministers say.
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Christians from predominantly Hispanic and Black Churches of Christ often draw a distinction between work in the community and works of faith.
Daniel Rodriguez
Daniel Rodriguez, professor of religion and Hispanic studies at Pepperdine University, said that “in general, Hispanic Church of Christ congregations across the USA are more traditional/conservative than their Anglo counterparts.”
The author of “A Future for the Latino Church,” Rodriguez said the hesitancy is characteristic of a vast majority of Spanish-only and bilingual congregations.
“I believe this is partly due to the sectarian attitudes they inherited from the North American missionaries who went to Mexico and Central America. The training their ministers receive at preacher training schools and Bible institutes both in Latin America and in the USA also contributes to this reluctance to collaborate with groups outside of our movement.”
Some minority-serving congregations are branching out, however, with community projects that cross boundaries.
Gustavo Prato
Gustavo Prato serves the Brewer Road Iglesia de Cristo in Winston-Salem, N.C. The congregation of about 170 was planted by the South Fork Church of Christ.
“We collaborate with the North Carolina Congress of Latino Organizations, which is not necessarily church related but community related,” Prato explained.
NCCLO advocates for “immigrants in need of food and housing but also mental health, which is one of my roles,” Prato said. He holds a master’s degree in marriage and family therapy from Harding University and currently is studying for a doctor of ministry degree at Abilene Christian University.
So he talks with governmental agencies about how to help Hispanic and other minority populations in the area. The native Venezuelan also works with a group that specifically ministers to Venezuelan immigrants.
“We don’t have any problem in helping the community and working with other traditions if it’s for the benefit of the community,” Prato said. “We’re open to work and help.”
“We don’t have any problem in helping the community and working with other traditions if it’s for the benefit of the community.”
Halfway across the country, David Clevenger serves as discipleship minister for the South Walker Church of Christ in Oklahoma City. When he arrived four and a half years ago, the 38-member congregation was aging and largely White, which did not reflect its neighborhood.
“They knew what they needed to do — but not exactly what to do,” Clevenger said.
Now at 80 members, the bilingual church has engaged with several faith-based partnerships. The oldest, Whiz Kids, partners with “a dozen or two” churches of various affiliations in the metropolitan area, mostly in poorer areas.
Whiz Kids visit the Science Museum Oklahoma for their spring fling.
Whiz Kids has been in Oklahoma City for 28 years, and Clevenger says it’s a good fit for South Walker’s older members.
“Tutoring allows them to be involved — they’re able to do mission work, but it doesn’t require them to go somewhere else. They can say, ‘These kids need Jesus. I’ll treat them the way Jesus would treat them.’”
‘Religious borders’
Well known among leaders in Black Churches of Christ, Russell Pointer, author and minister of the Minneapolis Central congregation, has been an active and visible advocate in the city for racial justice, before and since the 2021 murder of George Floyd.
In an email, he told The Christian Chronicle, “Most Indubitably, I only work outside the fellowship of The Church of Christ regarding community matters and issues; I do not reach across Religious Borders in matters of Faith!”
“I think a lot of traditional (Black) churches are a little bit hesitant with identifying with other organizations. It could be a historical thing based on tradition, but I also believe in some congregations it’s a doctrinal issue.”
Similarly, Lewis Parker, minister of Sugar Land Church of Christ in suburban Houston, said his congregation serves inner city homeless with the Impact Houston Church of Christ. And members also collect items for a local hospital and school supplies for Title 1 public schools and the Boys and Girls Club. While other churches may do the same, he said he wouldn’t call these efforts alliances.
“I think a lot of traditional (Black) churches are a little bit hesitant with identifying with other organizations. It could be a historical thing based on tradition, but I also believe in some congregations it’s a doctrinal issue,” Parker said.
Related: Special project: Ministerial alliances
Branden Mims, senior minister of the 400-member Greater Metropolitan Church of Christ in Kansas City, Mo., agreed that “there are doctrinal differences. But also, many predominantly Black churches don’t have a lot of community outreach ministries that would require collaboration.”
He is not a member of a ministerial alliance, but Mims has been personally involved with efforts to control violence in the city.
Branden Mims
“I collaborate with the community — with the mayor’s office, with the health department, the police department,” he said, calling Metropolitan “one of most community-focused congregations in the city.”
“So by nature we work with pastors from other fellowships,” he added, citing community vigils and ecumenical meetings, where faith leaders come together to discuss problems.
And Metropolitan helped form a new congregation housed at the New Hope Christian Church in Belton, Mo., about 30 miles south of the city. For about two years, the pair of churches have been working toward a merger. Mims describes New Hope as small, rural and White, led by an aging minister who hopes to retire soon and wanted to find someone “to come in and start a church and keep it going in that community.”
A work of faith.
CHERYL MANN BACON is a Christian Chronicle contributing editor who served for 20 years as chair of the Department of Journalism and Mass Communication at Abilene Christian University. Contact [email protected].
